An Indian-origin man has been charged with stealing a $1 million-winning lottery ticket from a customer at a petrol station where he was employed, according to local officials.
Meer Patel, 23, was arrested and charged with theft on Monday. The buyer of the lottery ticket has since been notified of his winning, as stated by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office.
The alleged theft occurred at a petrol station in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. According to Detective Steve Craig, when the customer asked Patel to check the ticket by scanning it, Patel falsely claimed it had won a lower amount. He paid the customer the lower amount and discarded the ticket in the trash.
After the customer left, Patel retrieved the ticket, scratched off the hidden part, and discovered the $1 million prize. He then took the ticket to the lottery office, where staff became suspicious of his actions.
State lottery investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the petrol station, which showed Patel picking the ticket out of the trash and celebrating upon learning it was a $1 million winner, according to Investigator Vic Donoho.
The Sheriff's Office was notified, and Patel was subsequently arrested. Detectives Craig and Donoho reviewed the store's surveillance videos to identify the buyer and inform him of his good fortune.
"The feel-good side of this story is the man never knew he was the winner until we made contact with him," Craig told the Cheatham County Exchange newspaper. "That is absolutely life-changing money."
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